1. Field
Example embodiments generally relate to radioisotopes having medical applications and apparatuses and methods for production thereof in nuclear reactors.
2. Description of Related Art
Radioisotopes have a variety of medical applications stemming from their ability to emit discreet amounts and types of ionizing radiation. This ability makes radioisotopes useful in cancer-related therapy, medical imaging and labeling technology, cancer and other disease diagnosis, and medical sterilization.
Short-term radioisotopes, having half-lives on the order of days or even hours, are of particular importance in cancer and other medical therapy for their ability to produce a unique radiation profile and yet quickly decay into harmless, stable isotopes excreted from the body after the radiation dose is delivered in the specific application. However, the short half-lives of these short-term radioisotopes also make their acquisition and handling difficult. Short-term radioisotopes are conventionally produced by bombarding stable parent isotopes in accelerators or low-power reactors with neutrons on-site at medical facilities or at nearby production facilities. These radioisotopes are quickly transported due to the relatively quick decay time and the exact amounts of radioisotopes needed in particular applications. Further, production of medical short-term radioisotopes generally requires cumbersome and expensive irradiation and extraction equipment, which may be cost-, space-, and/or safety-prohibited at medical facilities.
Several short-term radioisotopes having medical applications may be generated through nuclear fission, and thus in large quantities at nuclear power plants. For example, fission of Uranium-235 in nuclear fuel may produce large amounts of Technetium-99, which is useful in multiple imaging and cancer diagnosis applications. However, the short-term radioisotopes produced in nuclear fuel may be intermixed with a wide spectrum of other nuclear fission byproducts. Extraction of the useful short-term radioisotopes may have unacceptable radiation and chemical exposure hazards and/or may require an amount of time in which the short-term radioisotopes may decay to unusable amounts.
Because of difficulties with production and the lifespan of short-term radioisotopes, demand for such radioisotopes may far outweigh supply, particularly for those radioisotopes having significant medical applications in persistent disease areas such as cancer. The cost of effective short-term radioisotopes may become prohibitively high compared to typical healthcare costs for diseases such as cancer.